Jayampathy Wickramaratne


Jayampathy Wickramaratne, PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He was a national list member representing the United National Party in the Parliament. A former Director of Programs of the Institute of Constitutional Studies in Colombo, he has served as a Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and was a member of the Sri Lankan Law Commission.
He entered parliament in 2015 General Election from the National List of the United National Party. He was also appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Wickramaratne the key person behind the proposed 2018 constitution of Sri Lanka.

Education

Wickramaratne was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kandy. After successfully completed his GCE Advance Level examination he entered the Science Faculty of University of Peradeniya, studying Chemistry.  On 5 December 1972, in his final year he was caught cheating on his exams. He was subsequently expelled from the University and later studied at the Law College, where he qualified as a lawyer. He holds a PhD in Human rights and a Master of Public Administration from University of Peradeniya. Wickramaratne was appointed a President's Counsel in 2001.

Member of the Parliament 2015-2020

Although Wickramaratne was a leftist in 2015 August election he was appointed as a national list MP from the right wing UNP. He resigned from parliament in late January 2020 and relocated to Switzerland, where he is alleged to hold citizenship. As he was a key architect of the 2015 Nineteenth Amendment which prohibits non-citizens from entering parliament or contesting in Presidential elections. It was specifically aimed at preventing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at the time an American citizen, from entering Sri Lankan politics or running for president.